A/N: Old story I wrote with one of my favorite couples, Centon! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own no person, character or storyline from WWE!
The rain was coming down so hard on the rooftop and windows of the car that it sounded like someone was pounding on its surface. It was driving him crazy, and the tossing and turning of the man in the back seat was driving him even crazier.
"Randy, would you please stop? I can't concentrate on driving in this storm with you tossing around back there. I know the rain is really strong, but please try to sleep."
Randy sat up in the backseat of their rented Range Rover and looked at his best friend's reflection in the rear view mirror.
"I'm sorry, John. I'm not doing it on purpose. I just can't sleep. You know the rain annoys me."
John rolled his eyes and looked back at his friend. He had known Randy for over ten years now and considered him his best friend, but he had to admit, Randy was the most annoying person he knew.
"Everything annoys you, Ran." An icy glare was his only response from the backseat.
John concentrated on driving through the blinding rain as carefully as he could but could not help wanting to speed up and reach their next destination city. Working for the WWE had its benefits and was his dream but the constant travel was exhausting. Flying from city to city, not spending enough time at home and all night drives were a nightmare. Especially when the best friend you bought along for company decides to be in his in-ring persona. Randy was not as mean and anti-social as his WWE character but tonight he apparently decided to be .
John and Randy did not get along in WWE world but in real life, they had been best friends for the entirety of their career. Being in such close quarters, though for 50 weeks out of a year led to its fair share of arguments, disagreements and many glares. When it came down to it, though, nothing ever really shook their friendship.
"Why don't you read a book or listen to music?"
Randy yawned and nodded. "No, I think I'll take another shot at that nap. Let me know when you want to switch and I'll drive."
John nodded but no sooner than the two friends had settled back into silence that a loud bang shot out under the car.
"What the hell was that?" asked an alarmed Randy, jumping up in his seat as John frantically tried to swerve the car over to the side of the road.
John took a deep breath and looked up at Randy with wide eyes."Holy shit! Damn car blew a tire!" He slammed his fist against the steering wheel. "We could have flipped over!"
Randy tried to slow his racing heartbeat down and jumped over to the passenger seat.
"Calm down. We're fine; we didn't. Just calm down and let's call AAA or someone."
John nodded and dug his phone out of his pocket. He snorted when he looked at the screen and held it up. "No service."
Randy reached into the back seat to pull his phone out of his backpack. "That's what you get for buying a shitty phone, dude." He smirked and looked at the phone now in his hand, the smirk quickly turning into a frown. "Never mind."
John reached over and snatched the phone out of Randy's hand. "Oh, so his highness' $900 phone doesn't have service either, huh."
Randy glared as he grabbed the phone back. "Shut up. How the hell are we gonna get out of here?"
John turned around and looked towards the back. "I guess we're gonna have to suck it up and go outside to change this damn tire. The rental company had to put in a spare."
Randy nodded and smiled. "Alright John-John, then go for it. I'll wait right here."
John laughed. "No way, asshole. You will go out there and help me or else we both just sit here."
Randy sighed deeply and nodded. The men opened their car doors immediately getting soaked to the bone. The rain was so loud they had to scream to hear each others voices as John pulled open the trunk.
"There's no tire in here!" he yelled as Randy looked on."I see that! What do we do now?"
John motioned moving back in the car and the two friends ran back into their seats.
"Damn! We're literally stuck here now and we'll probably die of pneumonia." mumbled Randy.
"Don't be so dramatic. I think we could drive on this flat for a bit longer as long as we go very slowly. We have no choice." John sighed, turned the car on and began a slow crawl on the side of the road. He left his hazard lights on in the hopes someone driving by would be able to see them and stop to help.
After 15 minutes of silence Randy jerked up."I see a light. Is that a hotel?"
"Yeah, looks like. Just in time, too, because this is as far as we can go. Hopefully their phones are still up and running so we can call someone to let them now what happened. We'll bunk there for the night. Grab your bag," said John turning off the car and putting the keys in his pocket.
The two men quickly grabbed their bags from the back and ran the few feet in the rain from the car to the hotel. They stood in front of the shabby looking door and read the sign.
"Rose's Inn"
"Wow, this place looks really crappy, John," said Randy with a frown.
"Crappy or not this is as far as we can go for tonight. So, learn to live with it, Ran." replied John. He pushed open the door to the Inn and took a deep breath. Inside, the Inn looked just as bad as it looked from the outside. The floor was covered in a tattered, dirty tan carpet and the wall was covered with tacky brown art work with what appeared to be coffee stains. In the corner sat brown sofas and chairs with giant rips in the seat and more stains.
"Holy crap! Look at this place. I think we should just stay in the car," said Randy, looking around from the doorway.
"Cut it out. We can't stay in a car in the middle of the road. At least we have shelter here no matter how crappy it is." John grabbed Randy's arm and pulled him in letting the door slam behind him.
He walked to the check in desk and looked around for a sign of someone who worked there. He rang the bell twice and was about to yell out when a small, elderly lady walked out from a room behind the desk.
"Good evening gentlemen. My name is Rose. Welcome to my Inn. How may I help you all this rainy evening?"
"Hello, Ma'am. My name is John and this is my friend, Randy." John smiled politely and discretely poked Randy, who then also smiled tightly at Rose.
"Our car broke down a couple of feet back and we were wondering if you could rent us rooms for the night. I really need to contact our boss to let him know where we are. Hopefully they can send us a replacement car."
Rose smiled sweetly and nodded her gray head.
"No problem. You poor dears are going to catch your death if you don't change soon. I have rooms available and thankfully our phones are working." She turned to get the keys from a rack hanging behind the desk.
"I am not paying more than $10 for a room here." whispered Randy. John poked him in the ribs before saying, "Zip it, Randy. You sound like a snob."
Rose turned and looked at Randy. "So, what are you two boys doing on the road in this weather? And what kind of boss would send you out in this?"
He raised his eyebrows and smiled. "We're wrestlers with a company called WWE. We put on shows in different cities. Since we were staying in Tennessee for our next show we figured we'd drive but we didn't expect this storm."
Rose nodded. "I see. Come, let me show you upstairs."
The men grabbed their bags and walked up the creaky staircase behind Rose. They continued their climb up the stairs and when they reached the 5th floor Rose handed them each a key and wished them a quick good night. She turned away quickly and disappeared down the stairs.
"Wow, the old bird can fly. I wonder why she's so anxious to get away from us." mumbled John.
"It doesn't matter. I'm going into my room to get rid of these wet clothes. You should call Vince. He likes you way more than me." said Randy walking into his room. He waved and smiled at John before closing the door in his face.
John flipped him off and unlocked his door. He quickly stripped off his wet clothes and put on a dry pair of sweats and a t-shirt. He threw his backpack on the armchair that sat in the corner of the room and flopped down on the surprisingly clean bed. Taking a deep breath, he picked up the phone and dialed Vince McMahon's phone number and let out a sigh of relief when he got the voice mail. After rattling off a quick message on his and Randy's whereabouts, he settled down on the bed and decided to watch some TV.
Next door, Randy stood in the middle of his room and looked all around. Dark shadows seemed to lurk in every corner and he could swear he heard whispering. Every hair on his body was standing straight up and when he took off his jacket he was surprised to see goose bumps on both arms. He shook his head and rubbed his arms.
"What the hell is wrong with me? I need a shower and a bed." He mumbled.
He threw his overnight bag on the bed and rummaged around until he found clean underwear and some sweats to wear to bed. He tucked the clothes under his arm and walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. In seconds the bathroom was full of steam. Randy stepped under the water and let it fall over his body. He felt his muscles start to relax and the tension leave his body. After a couple of minutes he stepped out and dried himself off. He wrapped the towel over his lower body and walked over to the sink to brush his teeth. As he looked up at the steam covered mirror he gasped when he saw "Get Out" written on it.
"What the hell?"
He ran out of the bathroom sure he would find John laughing hysterically on the bed at his joke, but the room was as empty as he'd left it. He grabbed his underwear and pajamas and got dressed in record time. He ran out of the room and banged loudly on John's door.
"John! Open the door! Let me in!" He was pounding so hard on the door that he fell into John when he opened the door.
"What is it, Ran?"
Randy ran into John's room and locked the door behind him. He pushed John into the center of the room away from the door and sat down on his bed.
"What the hell is wrong with you? What did you do in my room?" He asked breathlessly.
John frowned and looked at his normally calm friend. He knew Randy was tough as nails and something really serious had to have happened to freak him out this bad. He sat beside him on the bed and put his arm around his shoulder.
"Randy, calm down. Just relax, take a deep breath and tell me what happened because I have no idea what you're talking about."
"OK. I was taking a shower and you know how the bathroom gets all steamy because of the hot water and the mirror starts getting all sweaty."
Randy waited for John's nod before continuing.
"So, I get out of the shower and I look at the mirror and someone wrote "Get Out" on it! I thought it was you playing one of your dumb ass jokes on me, but you weren't there. So, I got dressed and ran out."
John frowned and stood up."Randy, maybe you just need some sleep." He held up his hands in mock surrender when he saw Randy about to protest. "All right, all right. Come on. Let's go to your room. Show me."
Randy got up and led John over to his bedroom. The two men walked cautiously through the bedroom and into the adjoined bathroom and looked at the mirror.
"Hey, it's gone." Said Randy. He looked at John who had an unconvinced look on his face. The two friends were standing like statues in front of Randy's bathroom mirror.
"Um, Ran, there's nothing on the mirror. The rest of the room is still steamy, though, so I believe you just showered."
John shrugged and looked at Randy who was still staring at the mirror. "But, you know, maybe I'm wrong. If you really think you saw some writing on the mirror then I believe you, dude. I'm on your side. You know that. Maybe it was on there before you got in the shower and just didn't notice."
Randy nodded and walked out of the bathroom taking a seat on the bed. "Yeah, you're probably right. I just need some sleep. This place is so creepy that it has me on edge." He laughed and shook his head. "Thanks for checking with me. You must think I'm crazy."
John nodded put his arm around Randy's shoulder. "I do, but I've always thought that!"
He laughed and pulled his friend into a tight hug and the two friends remained in the embrace for a few moments until Randy suddenly pulled away and frowned.
John looked at him and noticed his entire body stiffened up. He smiled. "Well, I think I can go now, right? The faster we fall asleep, the faster we wake up and get the hell out of this place."
Randy smiled slightly and nodded. He got up off the bed and opened his bedroom door. "Definitely."
Once in his room, John laid back down and tried to concentrate on the show he was watching when Randy banged on his door. It didn't take a genius to see their hug had shook Randy up.
Randy and his wife, Sam, had been divorced for over a year now and ever since then Randy was very guarded with showing his feelings to anyone but his daughter. Before the divorce he had been more open with his emotions, but now it seemed he jumped when someone touched him. Over the past couple of months, though, he had grown more distant around John. It was hard for him to understand. Randy never spoke about the reason for the breakup of his marriage. After his own marriage failing a little over 2 years ago, he assumed Randy would want to commiserate with him, but it never happened.
John figured if he knew why that marriage, which had seemed so perfect, had broken up, it would solve the mystery of Randy's withdrawal.
John knew deep in his heart that his feelings for Randy had been slowly developing over the years into more than just friendship. Randy's smile should not affect him the way it did. He missed the times when they were closer. The way things were going between them now scared him. It was obvious Randy was dealing with things and he wasn't sharing them with him. It was making him pull away instead. John shook his head and focused on the TV. Maybe he should forget the fairytale fantasy of a life with Randy that constantly floated through his head. He sighed loudly and turned his attention to the characters on the screen.
Over in Randy's room things were quiet and very bright. He had turned on ever lamp in the room and checked every corner and hidden space, expecting to find a lurking figure hiding there. Once he assured himself he was alone, he lay down. He looked up at the ceiling and stated tracing the cracks with his eyes. He felt his body start to relax and reached up to touch his shoulder; the shoulder John had touched. He could still feel the warmth from John's arms around his shoulders. Part of him wished he didn't feel it or that he had let John hug him as long as he did. Lately he was unsure of himself around John. He avoided situations where they would be alone or have to touch in any way. Yet, at the same time, he longed for them. He knew why his marriage to Sam had ended. He knew John had everything to do with it. He also knew, though, that no one could ever know. Especially John.
A/N: Review, please!